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Concentrations merge course names change
by Shalynn Long
In an effort to stay ahead of the ever-changing media industry, mass media faculty make regular updates to classes.
But, sometimes the department has to take a step back and evaluate the curriculum as a whole to make a series of larger changes.
“The last time we had a curriculum change was over 10 years ago,” said Maria Stover, professor and chair of the Department of Mass Media. “The curriculum should be re-evaluated regularly to ensure it is not outdated as many updates can be made over a period of just a few years. Curriculum changes and updates have been on-going for three years because they are required to go through the highest level of approval.”
The biggest changes in the lates revision includes the merging of the Advertising and Public Relations concentrations.
This change benefits students who want to focus on both areas because public relations and creative advertising are both tied strongly to messaging and strategy.
Alumni may remember the MM400 class, Media Literacy, where students worked on a in-depth research paper. Stover’s MM321 Advanced Professional Media Applications was added to the list of requirements for all concentrations, replacing MM400. MM300, Media Law, Ethics, and Diversity, now taught by mass media assistant professor, Kristen Grimmer, replaces the previous MM300 Media Law Class and pulls in some concepts from the former MM400 class.
Stover said roughly 85% of all mass media courses got new names to better reflect subject matter and better sequencing of classes.
“I think the name changes are going to help a lot because they clear up a lot of confusion and make registering for classes a lot easier,” said junior mass media major Alyssa Storm.
All mass media minors were updated to require only 15 credit hours instead of 18. “I’m not sure students realize how intensive this process is,” senior lecturer Regina Cassell said. “I cannot count how many long meetings we had to discuss course names, catalog descriptions, prerequisites, the sequencing of courses…And, that’s nothing compared to all of the additional work Dr. Stover did with regard to the required paperwork and preparing the changes to go through each required approval stage.”
The faculty looks forward to all of the updates reflecting properly in Washburn’s systems and online in the near future.
CONCENTRATION UPDATES
COURSE TITLES
"Roughly 85% of all [mass media] courses changed titles. " -Maria Stover
FOUR -> THREE CONCENTRATIONS
Two concentrations including creative advertising and public relations have merged to become one concentration. Resulting in only three concentrations instead of four.
MASS MEDIA MINORS
Required to have 15 credit hours completed.
NEW CURRICULUM VS OLD
Students are not required to switch over to the new curriculum as it may benefit some students to stick to the old one.
Visit the website for more details on each concentration
https://www.washburn.edu/ac
ademics/college-schools/artssciences/departments/masswashburn.edu/massmedia
